This episode is dedicated to Rick Byrne. Please consider sending a gift to support Leukemia research at UCSF: UCSF Foundation, PO Box 45339, San Francisco, CA 94145 or make a gift online at makeagift.ucsf.edu. Please be sure to note that the gi

Episode 145 – Michael Moorcock's "The Mad God's Amulet” with our Patron Book Club

Jan 14th, 2024 59m 36s

Our Patron Book Club joins us to discuss Michael Moorcock's "The Mad God's Amulet, Michael Moorcock's love of arcane texts, action scenes, hyperviolence and gore, following expectations, whimsical supporting characters, battles over land and se

Episode 144 – Gustave Flaubert's "Salammbô” with special guest Robert Poyton

Jan 1st, 2024 58m 38s

Robert Poyton joins us to discuss Gustave Flaubert's "Salammbô”, October horror films, the etymology of Hygaxian words, Howardian prose, varied treasures, the French "oh là là", the literary influences of Clark Ashton Smith, the diversity of in

Episode 143 – Susanna Clarke's "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell” with special guest Tim Mendees

Dec 18th, 2023 58m 1s

Tim Mendees joins us to discuss Susanna Clarke's "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell”, the dangers of massive hardbacks, literary rabbit holes, the Dorset dialect, cursing those who have wronged us, classist hypocrits, the couragousness that comes

Episode 142 – Robert Asprin's "Thieves' World" with special guest Brian Yaksha

Sep 4th, 2023 59m 38s

Brian Yaksha joins us to discuss Robert Asprin's "Thieves' World", the give and take of what you're going to give to the audience, fantasy shared worlds, Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar, Aragorn's tax plan, Machiavelli, passing off as older for

Episode 141 – Edgar Rice Burroughs's "A Princess of Mars" with special guest Goran Gligovic

Aug 7th, 2023 58m 32s

Goran Gligovic joins us to discuss Edgar Rice Burroughs's "A Princess of Mars", Asterix and Obelix, the Library of Wonder, Tarzan, being 30 for as long as you can remember, main characters as blank canvases, Robert E. Howard, the Fighting Man c

Episode 140 – Lloyd Alexander's "The Book of Three" with special guest Becky Annison

Jul 10th, 2023 59m 8s

Becky Annison joins us to discuss Lloyd Alexander's "The Book of Three", the Dungeons and Dragons movie, dwarven guides, Welsh myth, characters with firm personality hooks, spaghetti westerns, the Black Cauldron, clear linear mission paths, giv

Episode 138 – Jack Vance's "Cugel's Saga" with special guest Brad Kerr

Jun 12th, 2023 58m 53s

Brad Kerr joins us to discuss Jack Vance's "Cugel's Saga", virtual tabletops, Brom, pompous vocabulary, whimsical characters, world-class worldbuilding, being nickel-and-dimed by the boss, moving from one grift to the next, interesting mounts,

Episode 138 – George MacDonald's "Phantastes" with special guest Conner Habib

May 14th, 2023 59m 52s

Conner Habib joins us to discuss George MacDonald's "Phantastes", D&D's influence on a young person's imagination, Irish mythology, the art of Gervasio Gallardo, a focus on environment over character, main characters as blank slates, living in

Patron Book Club 137 – William Gibson's "Neuromancer" with our Patron Book Club

Apr 17th, 2023 59m 4s

Our Patron Book Club joins us to discuss William Gibson's "Neuromancer", hypnogogic images, heists with scifi crap on top, retrofuturism, slow-moving death, the Velvet Underground, Dan Brown novels, splitting the party, simstims, genetic engine

Episode 137 – William Gibson's "Neuromancer" with special guest Nathaniel Webb

Apr 3rd, 2023 59m 13s

Nathaniel Webb joins us to discuss William Gibson's "Neuromancer", D&D Next playtests, self-contained cities in a building, people writing fiction written by Chat-GPT, action/heist stories, ninjas and Rastafarians, getting the heist team togeth

Episode 136 – Philip K. Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" with special guest Yochai Gal

Mar 20th, 2023 58m 25s

Yochai Gal joins us to discuss Philip K. Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", Ursula K. LeGuin, Cairn's influences, Book of the New Sun, the Blade Runner movie, androids and empathy, what makes a belief system valid, Philip K. Dick's

Episode 135 – Caroline Stevermer's "A College of Magics" with special guest Katrin Dirim

Mar 6th, 2023 55m 42s

Katrin Dirim joins us to discuss Caroline Stevermer's "A College of Magics", the diverse gaming scene in Turkey, YA book covers, politically correct highwaymen, the price that magic extracts, inevitable Harry Potter comparisons, the changing ex

Patron Book Club 134 – Michael Chabon's "Gentlemen of the Road" with our Patron Book Club

Feb 20th, 2023 1h

Our Patron Book Club joins us to discuss Michael Chabon's "Gentlemen of the Road", miniature wargaming, doing "a Jeff" by listening to the audiobook, Robert E. Howard's Middle Eastern adventures, melancholy guys dressed in black, the role of th

Episode 133 – Michael Chabon's "Gentlemen of the Road" with special guest Bill Gosline

Feb 6th, 2023 59m 8s

Bill Gosline joins us to discuss Michael Chabon's "Gentlemen of the Road", reading books written for adults as kids, Deities & Demigods as Appendix N, elephant-related words, "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay", smug afterwords, Ren fai

Episode 133 – Poul Anderson's "Operation Chaos” with special guest Andy from Breakfast in the Ruins

Jan 23rd, 2023 59m 34s

Andy from Breakfast in the Ruins joins us to discuss Poul Anderson's "Operation Chaos”, homemade ginger beer, Moorcock's influence on the fantasy genre, frothing latter-day conspiracy theorist wet dreams, the limitations of the word lycanthropy

Episode 132 – Scott Oden's "A Gathering of Ravens" with special guest Rick Byrne

Jan 9th, 2023 58m 31s

Rick Byrne joins us to discuss Scott Oden's "A Gathering of Ravens", demons in Norse mythology, purging darkness with creativity, faction play, the various Viking lands, grim dark, authentic Irish representation, giving monsters meaning, Orc mo

Episode 131 – P. Djèlí Clark's "A Master of Djinn" with special guest Maxwell Lander

Dec 26th, 2022 59m 35s

Maxwell Lander joins us to discuss P. Djèlí Clark's "A Master of Djinn", programming VR games, conversational RPGs, Audible audiobooks, villains plotting since childhood, the steampunk literary genre, when men write women, antisocial characters

Patron Book Club 130 – Arkady & Boris Strugatsky's "Hard to Be a God" with our Patron Book Club

Dec 12th, 2022 1h

Our Patron Book Club joins us to discuss Arkady & Boris Strugatsky's "Hard to Be a God”, impecunious dons, Brave New World, the Soviet Union in the 1960s, de-Stalinization, going straight to feudalism to fascism, the stench of the 18th century,

Episode 130 – Arkady & Boris Strugatsky's "Hard to Be a God" with special guest Aaron King

Nov 28th, 2022 59m 17s

Aaron King joins us to discuss Arkady & Boris Strugatsky's "Hard to Be a God”, West Marches-style gaming, fantasy bestiaries, impecunious dons, astronauts in the middle ages, the character arcs of doomed nobles, the inherent tension that exists

Episode 129 – Ursula K. Le Guin's "The Farthest Shore" with special guest Joshua Phillip Johnson

Nov 14th, 2022 1h

Joshua Phillip Johnson joins us to discuss Ursula K. Le Guin's "The Farthest Shore", elves named Josh, media being smarter than us, Audible audiobooks, hanging in Hort Town, magic being leached from the world, ideas of power and kingship, the i

Episode 128 – Neil Gaiman's "Neverwhere” with special guest Jim Hall

Oct 30th, 2022 59m 43s

Jim Hall joins us to discuss Neil Gaiman's "Neverwhere”, art school, crunchy combat, time loops, manic pixie dream girls, the Tony Blair-era of the UK, addressing audience needs, ideas for the sequel, using the Floating Market in an Underdark c

Patron Book Club 127 – Robert E. Howard's "Conan the Conqueror" with our Patron Book Club (Part 2)

Oct 17th, 2022 1h 7m

Our Patron Book Club joins us to discuss Robert E. Howard's "Conan the Conqueror", art pull-outs in paperbacks, the de Camp vs the Karl Edward Wagner introductions, sword and sorcery tropes, Conan's Greatest Hits, Shakespearean battles, Conan i

Patron Book Club 127 – Robert E. Howard's "Conan the Conqueror" with our Patron Book Club (Part 1)

Oct 3rd, 2022 58m 49s

Our Patron Book Club joins us to discuss Robert E. Howard's "Conan the Conqueror", the terrible glue on Lancer paperbacks, Howard's attempts to reach the English audience, the reach of Weird Tales Magazine, Conan's anti-colonialist stance, Howa

Episode 127 – Robert E. Howard's "Conan the Conqueror” with special guest Eric Johnson

Sep 19th, 2022 59m 29s

Eric Johnson joins us to discuss Robert E. Howard's "Conan the Conqueror”, artists to draw visual inspiration from, de Camp's editorial choices, the rabbit hole of research involved in writing historical fiction, The People of the Black Circle,